FANTASIA APPASSIONATA; BALLADE ET POLONAISE; FANTAISIE-CAPRICE; GREETING TO AMERICA Misha Keylin (violin), Slovak Radio SO/Andrew Mogrelia Naxos 8.570974 ***

By curious co-incidence, Misha Keylin's latest Vieuxtemps release on Naxos appears at the same time as Viviane Hagner's recording of the composer's Fourth and Fifth Violin Concertos in Hyperion's Romantic Violin Concerto series. The discs have one work in common – the Fantasia appassionata, where Keylin's impassioned advocacy wins hands down over Hagner's more restrained approach. Vieuxtemps, a virtuoso to be mentioned in the same breath as Paganini, was praised as a composer by the likes of Berlioz and Schumann, and listeners to this new CD will have fun working out which of the familiar turns are borrowings from or apparent anticipations of more famous works. Greeting to America, of course, has tunes everyone will recognise. See url.ie/57c6